Many women don’t recognize heart disease risk
Although women showed a greater reduction in recurrent MI and recurrent CHD events compared with men, the awareness of heart disease as the No. 1 killer of women has declined, according to a special report from the American Heart Association.
Based on survey data from 2009, 65% of women were aware that heart disease was their leading cause of death (LCOD); by 2019 the number dropped to 44%. The 10-year decline occurred across all races and ethnicities, as well as ages, with the exception of women aged 65 years and older.
The American Heart Association has conducted national surveys since 1997 to monitor awareness of cardiovascular disease among U.S. women. Data from earlier surveys showed increased awareness of heart disease as LCOD and increased awareness of heart attack symptoms between 1997 and 2012, wrote Mary Cushman, MD, of the University of Vermont, Burlington, chair of the writing group for the statement, and colleagues.
Dr. Mary Cushman
However, overall awareness and knowledge of heart disease among women remains poor, they wrote.
“Awareness programs designed to educate the public about CVD among women in the United States include Go Red for Women by the American Heart Association; The Heart Truth by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; and Make the Call, Don’t Miss a Beat by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,” the researchers noted. To determine the change in awareness of heart disease as the LCOD among women, the researchers conducted a multivariate analysis of 1,158 women who completed the 2009 survey and 1,345 who completed the 2019 survey. The average age was 50 years; roughly 70% of the participants in the 2009 survey and 62% in the 2019 survey were non-Hispanic White.
The greatest declines in awareness of heart disease as LCOD occurred among Hispanics and non-Hispanic Blacks and among all respondents aged 25-34 years.
Awareness of heart disease as LCOD was 30% lower among women with high blood pressure compared with women overall, the researchers noted.
“In both surveys, higher educational attainment was strongly related to awareness that heart disease is the LCOD,” the researchers said. However, the results highlight the need for renewed efforts to educate younger women, Hispanic women, and non-Hispanic Black women, they emphasized. Unpublished data from the AHA survey showed that “younger women were less likely to report leading a heart-healthy lifestyle and were more likely to identify multiple barriers to leading a heart-healthy lifestyle, including lack of time, stress, and lack of confidence,” they wrote.
In addition, awareness of heart attack warning signs declined overall and within each ethnic group between 2009 and 2019.
The survey results were limited by several factors including the use of an online-only model that might limit generalizability to populations without online access, and was conducted only in English, the researchers wrote.
Heart disease needs new PR plan
The study of heart disease risk awareness among women was an important update to understand how well the message about women’s risk is getting out, said Martha Gulati, MD, president-elect of the American Society of Preventive Cardiology, in an interview.
Dr. Martha Gulati
The issue remains that heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, and the decrease in awareness “means we need to amplify our message,” she said.
“I also question whether the symbol of the red dress [for women’s heart disease] is working, and it seems that now is the time to change this symbol,” she emphasized. “I wear a red dress pin on my lab coat and every day someone asks what it means, and no one recognizes it,” she said. “I think ‘Go Red for Women’ is great and part of our outward campaign, but our symbol needs to change to increase the connection and awareness in women,” she said.
What might be a better symbol? Simply, a heart, said Dr. Gulati. But “we need to study whatever is next to really connect with women and make them understand their risk for heart disease,” she added.
“Additionally, we really need to get to minority women,” she said. “We are lagging there, and the survey was conducted in English so it missed many people,” she noted.
Dr. Gulati said she was shocked at how much awareness of heart disease risk has fallen among women, even in those with risk factors such as hypertension, who were 30% less likely to be aware that heart disease remains their leading cause of death. “Younger women as well as very unaware; what this means to me is that our public education efforts need to be amplified,” Dr. Gulati said.
Barriers to educating women about heart disease risk include language and access to affordable screening, Dr. Gulati emphasized. “We need to ensure screening for heart disease is always included as a covered cost for a preventive service,” she said.
“Research needs to be done to identify what works toward educating women about cardiac risk. We need to identify a marketing tool to increase awareness in women. It might be something different for one race versus another,” Dr. Gulati said. “Our messaging needs to improve, but how we improve it needs more than just health care professionals,” she said.
Focus on prevention to reduce MI recurrence
“The study regarding recurrent events after MI is important because we really don’t know much about recurrent coronary heart disease after a MI over time,” said Dr. Gulati. These data can be helpful in managing surviving patients and understanding future risk, she said. “But I was surprised to see fewer recurrent events in women, as women still have more heart failure than men even if it has declined with time,” she noted.
Dr. Gulati questioned several aspects of the study and highlighted some of the limitations. “These are claims data, so do they accurately reflect the U.S. population?” she asked. “Remember, this is a study of people who survived a heart attack; those who didn’t survive aren’t included, and that group is more likely to be women, especially women younger than 55 years,” she said.
In addition, Dr. Gulati noted the lack of data on type of heart attack and on treatment adherence or referral to cardiac rehab, as well as lack of data on long-term medication adherence or follow-up care.
Prevention is the key take-home message from both studies, “whether we are talking primary prevention for the heart disease awareness study or secondary prevention for the recurrent heart attack study,” Dr. Gulati said.
The recurrent heart disease study was supported in part by Amgen and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Lead author Dr. Peters disclosed support from a UK Medical Research Council Skills Development Fellowship with no financial conflicts. Dr. Cushman had no financial conflicts to disclose; several coauthors on the writing committee disclosed relationships with companies including Amarin and Boehringer Ingelheim. Dr. Gulati had no financial conflicts to disclose.
SOURCE: Peters SAE et al. Circulation. 2020 Sep 21. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.120.047065; Cushman M et al. Circulation. 2020 Sep 21. doi: 10.1161/CIR.0000000000000907.